Pio's .wibble

To understand how this works lets compare the anatomy of an overtake.  The driver in front will normally take the racing line, using the outside of the track as the braking zone, moving over to the apex of the corner on the inside of the track then moving to the outside on the exit.

The first and usual approach an overtaking driver will normally use is to try to get inside in the braking zone so he holds the apex of the corner and can use the outside of the track on the exit to maximise speed out of the corner.  The big problem with this is that the inside is usually "dirty" e.g. less grip, so the overtaking driver either has brake first, or has too much speed and misses the apex.  Either way the advantage is with the driver in front to get to the apex first and get the best exit speed.

The other approach is to sell the driver in front a dummy by lining up on the inside so the driver in front moves inside to block this, then switching back to the outside to take the optimum line.  The problem with this approach is that the driver in front still gets to the apex first and hence controls exit speed.  If done properly by the driver behind, they will turn in late and cut inside the driver in front on exit, but this doesn't work if the corner is actually a chicane, or the driver in front places the car well and doesn't use the whole width of the track, blocking the driver behind from getting alongside.

In a wet race, there are often two effects on the track.  The first is the rain washes out the rubber on the racing line reducing its grip, while simultaneously cleaning up the track offline increasing its grip.  This means that drivers find grip where previously there wasn't any and have more variety in how to approach an overtake.

Well what would happen if circuits simulated this by having different types of tarmac across the track?  For instance making the braking zone on the inside of corners out of high grip tarmac, and the outside out of low grip?  It would mean the racubg line would possibly end up on the inside, but it would also be the worst line for defending the corner on the exit. Laying down another strip of high grip track on the inside of the exit would allow drivers cutting in to get a good exit too.  Alternatively if a driver decides to use the traditional racing line, a driver trying an overtake can brake later.

It wouldn't be as artificial as watering the track at random, and more importantly would also still provide a level playing field for all drivers.

Well i think one answer is in the out of favour KERS. Its impact has hardly been felt in the first year of use but why is that? A quick glance at the way it's been implemented shows it's been done by a very prescriptive set of rules. Only a limited amount of energy can be released per lap and only a limited amount can be stored anyway.

This is just indicative of how Max like to treat the teams. Headmaster knows best and the naughty teams need to be stopped from behaving badly. This has resulted in a situation where the numbers need to add up and they just don't. The weight penalty of carrying the systems isn't outweighed (ahem) by the performance gain. There's no scope for developing a better system - the numbers say there's no point and that's assuming the teams have bothered with it in the first place.

What it needs is for the teams to have the freedom to push the boundaries. As Toyota have said, the KERS they were developing for f1 was less advanced than in the Prius. The 'Pio' rules would have increased limits (e.g. none) of storage and release of energy, and on limit on how much could be used per lap or carried into the next lap. I would also allow the recovery and deployment to happen across all wheels to help make it more relevant to real world KERS. But the most important benefit for fans would be more exciting dicing from cars deploying their KERS power in different ways and different parts of the track. As anyone who's played a drivin game with 'nitro' boosted cars. Although you might boost away from the other cars, they'll soon boost back past you. More overtaking and racing in f1, now there's a thought!

But lets look at it from the reverse angle.  What makes for a great race?  First we have to define a great race.  Uncertainty, dicing and overtaking.

All the "classic" races of recent times have pretty much come from wet races.  Who will be on the right tyres at the right time?  Once you take fuel load out of the equation, you get the uncertainty of how the tyres will perform.  Fuel burns at a known rate that's similar for all cars/drivers but how the tyres degrade varies between car setup and driving style.

The other great feature of wet races has been faster cars starting behind slower cars.  Now this probably won't happen in 2010 (unless there's a wet qualifying) because all the qualifying sessions will be on empty tanks.  However during the race (and this is the important bit) cars will find they have tyres in poor condition and need to stop for more.  When they come out of the pits they *will* be faster than the other cars because everyone will be on (almost) the same fuel load, but tyres in a worse condition.

Add the fact that this year cars have been ever closer (and is likely to continue next year with the rules continuity) and races are going to end up a game of tortoise vs hare, with the hares getting stuck behind the tortoises (so Trulli will be in his element).  Not knowing if the tortoises will stop, the hares will have to overtake if they're going to win.  It's this requirement to overtake and the fact that the race positions are real (not mixed up until the last fuel stops) that will make things exciting.

All it needs is an open an unlimited KERS rule and it'll almost be like back in the turbo days!